


Bookshelf Romance

by LadyFayte (RisePersephone)



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M, Magic Books
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-21
Updated: 2014-01-21
Packaged: 2018-01-09 13:50:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1146741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RisePersephone/pseuds/LadyFayte
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles has a favorite book that he loves. It's a book about revenge, and he wishes it ended differently.<br/>He gets his wish, in a way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bookshelf Romance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheAssbenderWhisperer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAssbenderWhisperer/gifts).



> For Loubaby, who wanted an AU based on this post: http://watsonisawallflower.tumblr.com/post/74076346253/have-you-ever-wondered-where-books-come-from  
> I hope it meets your expectations, I tried to make it like a fairy tale...

 Charles Xavier was a book-lover and a caretaker of books. Not just any books, of course. Magic books. The books he took care of grew. They started out small and without coats, but Charles dressed them in beautiful colors that suited each of them perfectly, and they grew up to be big books with wondrous stories.

There was one book in particular that Charles loved dearly. The book was a bit grumpy, and had pricked him the first time he had opened it. But the story that book carried was Charles' favorite in the world.

The book had a plain brown leather cover, and it's corners were tipped with metal. The front cover had metallic painted daggers dancing across the edges, in a way that Charles imagined the main character in the book fought with them. It was a revenge story, about a man alone in the world searching for the monster of a man who had taken everything from him.

Charles always cried when he read what had happened to the man, to Erik. Erik Lehnsherr was the character's name. Erik was more than just a character to Charles, though. To Charles, Erik was as alive as he was. And although Charles loved that book and that story, every time he finished it he felt his heart ache. He wished each time he closed the back cover that he could change the ending.

Charles took his favorite book everywhere with him. To the coffee shop where he had tea with his sister each week, to the store where he bought his book cover supplies, and even out to the park on sunny days.

One day, however, tragedy struck! While Charles and his favorite book were enjoying the sunshine on long walk around the park, someone bumped into Charles. Their things went flying, papers and books all over the sidewalk! Once Charles had helped the stranger gather his things, he discovered to his horror that his book was nowhere to be found!

The book-lover searched high and low, hoping he had only overlooked the familiar brown and gold cover. But still no book.

The stranger was gone too, so Charles could not ask him for help.

Heartbroken, Charles trudged home.

That night, though he tried to cheer himself up with his other magical books, nothing could lift his depressed mood. He went back to the park the next day, and the next, and the next. Each time he failed to find his beloved book. Each time there was no stranger to apologize and return the tome.

He spent every day for a week at the park, blowing off even his standing appointment with his sister at the coffee shop, until a storm drove him home on the last day. Charles spent an hour mourning over his book out there on its own in the wet and the cold. He cried bitterly, even as he stoked up his fire to keep the house warm.

And then there was a knock at his door. In a sudden rush of hope, Charles dashed for the door, flinging it open!

There was a stranger there, but it was not the stranger from the park. Charles' hope spluttered and died in his chest, leaving behind the ache he had felt in his chest every day and every night since losing his most loved book.

The man at the door was taller than Charles, and broad shouldered and lean. The man smiled with all of his teeth when he saw Charles, as if he had found exactly who he was looking for. Charles only stared up at him, blue eyes morose with the loss of an old friend. Even a handsome stranger wouldn't ease the pain.

“I found you at last!” Said the grey-eyed man. He was soaked from the rain, and as Charles looked at him in confusion, he thought the stranger looked oddly familiar. Perhaps it was just the brown leather jacket, reminding him of what he'd lost. The man continued. “I'm sorry it took me so long, but everything looks so different now.”

“I don't know who you are,” said Charles. The tall man looked surprised. “And I'm sorry, but I'm not in the mood for a guest.”

Charles moved to close his door, but the stranger was faster, pushing his foot forward to block the door. While at a standstill, the stranger's face was close to Charles' and grey eyes peered at him in confusion. “You don't recognize me at all?”

“I don't believe we've met, no.” Was Charles' sharp answer.

“But you've read my story a thousand times! You said I was your favorite book, even after I gave you a paper cut that first time. If this is about that, I'm sorry. But I'm here now!” The man said earnestly.

Charles scowled, convinced now that his sister was playing a cruel prank on him for missing their appointment at the coffee shop. “Look, I don't know who you are, but you can tell Raven to mind her own business! Please leave!”

The book-lover made to slam the door, but the man's foot was still over the threshold.

“Please,” said the man, sounding desperate. “I really am your book! 'Erik Lehnsherr crouched on the deck of the yacht, anticipation flooding his veins. Sebastian Shaw would die on the symbol of his wealth, for all the pain he had caused, and all the horrors he had dealt to Erik. Erik would have his revenge! He would kill Shaw like all the other men that had dared to stand between them. And then he would be free.'”

Charles stopped trying to close the door, staring up at the man who had just recited verbatim the last lines of his favorite book. The book that had no other copies in the world. His heart skipped a beat, and hope flared in his chest.

“Do you believe me now?” The man who was once a book asked, looking embarrassed for his outburst.

“Come in,” Charles replied, voice quiet in his stunned state as he stepped back and held the door open for his favorite book.

The man smiled and stepped in. “You always hated my ending.”

“No,” corrected Charles as he closed the door behind them. “I just thought you deserved a happier one.”

The man looked around, taking in the familiar bookshelves that were once his home, and kept smiling as he stepped towards the cozy fire. “Do you think this could count?”

“What do you mean?”

The man turned back to Charles, the smile on his face a much softer version from the first. “Could coming back to you like this be my new happy ending?”

Warmth blossomed on Charles' face and in his chest, joy settling in for the first time in a week. “My friend, I think that would be the happiest of endings.”

Then Charles stepped closer, and with a smile, his book drew him in for a kiss.

And so Charles Xavier lived on with his books, and loved each of them. But one he loved more than the rest, and that one loved him back just as much.


End file.
